Fair enough to be able to comment on this side of the story. However, I assumed there was a very good reason BiSB locked the previous thread after everyone was made aware of the man's admission of the mistake and subsequent donation. The guy messed up and realized it, and now he's generously trying to right his wrong. Nothing more to discuss. This thread can really only go downhill from here.

I think $2,000 is cheap compared to the lawsuit that would have happened if someone "took him out for good." Also, there was at least a misdemeanor there, and possibly a felony or civil rights violations.

This was a great move all the way around. Congrats to the bounty guy for not being as stupid as he originally appeared.

He went to my high school...he's actually a good guy, just trying to be funny. Typical Buckeye over the line type stuff. Pretty standard if you lived in Columbus. Maybe this will make ESPN too and the stupid backlash of LTT's letter burning will be matched by this silly summer remark.

Oh and of course I had to link the first MGoBlog thread and tag him to it on Facebook so everyone could see. As a Michigan fan, I love bringing light to how over the top the fans at Ohio can be.

Yeah...I'm so thankful that Michigan has never had anyone embarrass themselves on a national stage -

There are face palm fans in every fan base. It gets old sometimes seeing the repeated "this is typical of ________ fans." No it isn't. When these moments of face palm happen, it does not automatically tie every single fan to that one idiot. I certainly don't want to be associated with the double bird guy above, and I don't think most that read this blog would either.

The point is that some fanbases DO follow their stereotypes and you're much more likely to get "facepalm fans." That's how you GET the stereotype...it's a generalization. Michigan for the longest had the perception of being a quiet, wine and cheese, no noise, get off my lawn type of crowd. That doesn't mean there wasn't some guy going nuts at every game even before we had the stadium rennovations (which help keep noise in) and started blasting White Stripes and rocking out with highlighter pom-poms.

I NEVER said that every Ohio fan was one way...just like every Michigan fan isn't one way.

But there is a reason people talk about the behavior of fans in the SEC. Or the fans of Ohio, Penn St. and Wisconsin.

It's because these "facepalm fans" and moments are much more prevalent.

There is nothing wrong with that...it's like me saying you're more likely to hear loud music in a rough neighborhood. Does every neighborhood have loud music? No. Do nice, rich, well-off off neighborhoods have loud music? Certainly. But the point is that there is a reason for the assumption or stereotype.

People generalize all the time..."Arizona St. and Florida St. are full of hot girls." Just because Michigan has some BEAUTIFUL ladies, doesn't make that first statement wrong.

MANY Ohio fans will tell you that their fanbase is "worse" or "rougher" or "more facepalmy" than Michigan. Hell, the local COLUMBUS news even did a 2-year report where they dressed up as a Michigan fan to The Game in Ohio and dressed up as Ohio fans to The Game in Ann Arbor and concluded that it was way worse in Columbus when there were dressed in maize and blue.

No one, especially me was saying anything other than...this type of comment does not surprise me given the fanbase it comes from. If it was a Northwestern fan, it would surprise me...speaking generally, this isn't typical of a Northwestern fan.

I had a man in his 80s try to spit on me when OSU scored at the Big House 3 years ago, and other such disgusting acts of fanbase passion. The deviation stadium to stadium is small for the most part, and though some Ohio State fans are certainly blatant and disrespectful, I can guarantee you that if you wore a UM shirt through some tailgating areas on campus, they would invite you to their grill, and treat you with a brotherhood and hospitality over simply the strength of the rivalry.

One stadium you should check out: Camp Randall. Wisky fans are the WORST. It's not individual acts of classless fan disrespect like it is at PSU, OSU, UM, etc. It's organized hate. They chant racial and gay slurs, throw things at the opposing bench & fans, and fight in the stairwells if the game doesn't end in their favor.

....OSU fans are the worst. And that is about as rational as you can get.

And if you read Yost's post, its not about the pockets of class you can find in Columbus, but the general perception, and perception becomes reality. Sure, I can find a nice suburb of Bahgdad, but you know the rest.

Everytime I go to Columbus, I feel like Luke Skywalker walking into Mos Eisley - a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

I've been to over half the Big Ten Stadiums, ND, and at locales with various bowl opponents. It's not even close. There are jerk fans in every fanbase. There are some where there's even more than a few. Nothing is as bad as Columbus. It's physically hostile there. Now OSU fans that come up here are probably a little different, because fans that travel with the team are either closer to the team, or more die hard and respectful. But down in the Columbus it's the majority that makes it look bad for the minority. And it's not just rivals. Texas fans still talk about how awful the trip up there was.

You'd be better off working to get people to change how they act, rather than pointing at Badger fans. Because the Cornhuskers are coming to town this year, and there's another fanbase that'll leave digusted by Buckeye fans if things don't change quick.

We all have our stories, but I'd describe Camp Randall as pretty bad. I live in Madison now and go to many different UM - UW games but have only been to Columbus once. I would describe the difference as the undergrad students in Madison are awful and where the worst behavior comes from while the fans in Columbus are crap. My time in Columbus was pretty fun actually and we were on campus pre-game. I was worried off campus, though. In Madison I get students in my face looking to fight and stuff thrown at me. I also go to big UW - other team games and have seen OSU fans get treated like crap.

I do agree that OSU fans that come to Ann Arbor dont have to deal with as much, which makes it easier for them to come up in numbers, which frustrates me but I refuse to stoop.

RE: Wisconsin- You know you're school has a serious problem with fans, namely students, when the administration has to send multiple emails to the student body saying that if they don't settle down, their tickets will be revoked.

In that regard, there's a difference between UW and OSU. Our student sections are fairly mellow, and aren't none to be aggresive and classless. I don't have much experience outside in the General Seating areas, but I can say that the student body at football games is nothing like that at Camp Randall.

But it's not true. OSU's student section has pushed down women I've been with, throw things, and are pretty much the opposite of mellow. They are known to be aggressive and classless.

You must not have been around for when OSU President Karen Holbrook had to send out letters of apology to opposing fans after riots that nearly burned down a bridge in Columbus, and Michigan fans were assaulted. She still thought so after she left-

"When you win a game, you riot. When you lose a game, you riot. When spring comes, you riot. African-American Heritage Festival weekend, you riot."

"They think it's fun to flip cars, to really have absolute drunken orgies. ... I don't want to be at a place that has this kind of culture as a norm,"

As for OSU fans not having to deal with Michigan, I agree, it's not even close, but what I was saying was the fans from Ohio that travel to Michigan, or Michigan to Illinois, or Nebraska to MSU, or whatever, are, in general, a better class of fans than the ones that are at home and just there to party and see the game. It's often family members of the team, who have players, so they're not treating others like their kids are treated; or die hard fans who know their football, are coming for the football, and have some respect for the opponent and the game. Now, there are students and hangers on who travel from each team too, but their percentages are smaller than in a home game crowd. Even after a loss, I can't say I've had much problem with Ohio State fans in Ann Arbor (maybe it's because they're outnumbered). You can't swing a dead cat without hitting an asshole in Columbus.

I don't know what else to tell you. Yes, our fans get out of control more frequently than other fanbases, but it does happen everywhere. That being said, discussing our out-of-line behavior at football games won't change anything, sadly. Personally, I've never done anything aggressive or inflammatory at an OSU football game, I just like to watch the sport. Telling me how horrible our cheering section is changing nothing, I'm not one of the ones who needs it driven in, and I can't do anything about it.

I have no pride in the classless actions of any fanbases, but endlessly talking about it online is about as productive as total denial.

The thing is, I'm a Michigan alum, and I have friends who are OSU alums, MSU alums, Ohio alums, Wisconsin alums, etc...

Every single one of them that has gone to an OSU game as a visiting opponent, has a story about something awful happening to them. In the case of my OSU friends, they have seen more fellow OSU fans do fucked up things to opposing fans than the rest of us combined, and have the stories to back it up.

This is not true of other places. Ann Arbor is just a fairly mellow place.

I've been in the student section for basketball games where a State fan would be standing right smack dab in the middle of the Maize Rage, in full on State garb for the MSU game, and guess what happened to him? Nothing.

Maybe I'm just naive, but in my time as a student at Michigan, living for a couple years right on the main pathway students/people take to the game, I've experienced more fucked in shit from MSU and OSU fans combined, than Michigan fans. That's in Ann Arbor.

I saw the gaggle of State fans blocking traffic on S.Division who spray painted shit on cars and vandalized houses.

I've seen OSU fans act in a similar manner after each loss in Ann Arbor. Seen them actively trying to start fights, throw things, and antagonize people who just want to get the hell away from them.

The worst thing I heard about while I was a student was a group of Michigan fans beating up a couple of State fans after the game. Now, that's pretty bad, but in 4+ years of living in Ann Arbor, the worst things I've ever personally seen were people shouting an occasional "Fuck you! You suck!" at opposing fans.

That, and this long haired hippie looking fellow hit an old man with a water bottle.

EDIT: Also, as an OSU alum, I don't know if you receive one of these from your administration, but every year the UM-OSU game is in Columbus we get sent out a warning letter. It basically tells us to travel in groups, take a bus, and not wander off in Columbus, as if we're heading into the slums of a city under siege, and our very lives are in danger. We don't get one of those letters for any other game.

Actually, I'm a current student, not an alumnus. But we get letters on home game years against UM warning us against out behavior. You'll notice I did admit that our fans are traditionally more unnacceptable in many scenarios than other fanbases, expecially Michigan, based greatly on the type of student that is drawn to the school. My point wasn't to rationalize OSU student/fan behavior, but to say that for now, there's nothing that can be done about it singularly. All of us discussing it isn't fixing it, and telling me that it's a problem isn't gonna fix it.

Again, I'm one of the most passionate OSU fans you'll ever come into contact with, and I always have been. But I was raised to be respectful, and the most I can do at this point is to apologize for my peers. However, I can be confident of one thing: This is a social landscape that will be changing for the better. As another poster mentioned, the administration is making greater efforts to reverse this trend, and it's making strides, albeit small ones, in the right direction. You'll see OSU academics continue to improve as they have over the past years, and the quality of the fanbase in attendance will show a similar improvement. Who knows, maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.

That's an offer to all of you that post here: Notify me if you plan on coming to the Shoe for this year's game. I'll personally meet with every one of you, escort you around the area if you so prefer, and do my best to show you the best that we have to offer here, and perhaps I can improve your experience, if only a little.

I think the general gestalt of the OSU fanbase is not necessarily driven by the assclown portion, but rather the blind-eye, "nothing to see here" attitude worn by the saner more respectful fans and OSU administration. Its up to these fans (and administration) to corral and influence the assclown fans to knock it off. I know that's easier said than done, but there seems to very little acceptance by OSU faithful that they have a wretched fanbase.

OSU has been making a concerted effort to eliminate that sort of behavior for several years. Things have improved significantly, but they've still got a ways to go. Among other things, they've started policing open container laws and public intoxication much more aggressively, and i think we'll see things continue to improve over the next few years.

The biggest problem at OSU is with idiots who have only a tangential connection to the school, if that. A lot of the real assholes don't care about football at all and view gamedays as an excuse to show up on campus, get drunk, and do stupid shit.

I agree with you about how many Ohio fans won't disagree about being known as the biggest (insert swear word to describe a mean fanbase) in the nation. I've seen them many times brag about how proud they are of having a reputation of treating opposing fanbases with disrespect. Just ask Texas fans about their experience to their trip up to the Horse Shoe in 2005. Many Ohio fans seem to proud of it. Quite sad.

I am an out of state student. When I first came to Michigan, I had very little knowledge of fan interactions between our rivals. I knew a lot about the programs themselves, but I had obviously never interacted with Michigan State fans before, for instance. To compensate for this, I spent a lot of time reading OSU, ND, and MSU blogs. Not to troll (I never commented on any of them), but to educate myself. The current stereotype for Michigan fans is dumb, uneducated, missing a bunch of teeth, probably beats his wife and children, lives Downriver, fat, ugly, never went to college/went to crappy school while at the same time criticizing MSU academics, may have a mullet and/or jean shorts. I would say that that is a very poor representation of the Michigan fan base. Your argument is that it’s a stereotype because that type of person is more prevalent in one fan base relative to others. And yet, I feel as if our own negative stereotype demonstrates very clearly that stereotypes can actually be fairly divorced from reality.

RationalBuckeye evades a generalization by using a different generalization....in doing so he has burned a hole in time. It has swalllowed our conscious minds. Unless we can escape the grasp of the vacuum, we will be doomed forever. Only one man can save us now....

A bunch of fans who never went to the school at Michigan (yet act like they did)

A bunch of fans who only like the school because of the colors or helmets

A bunch of wannabe Ivy League or Stanford folks

Cry-babies

Quiet, not "true" fans, people who always think they’re too good to get down with the dirty stuff like "true fanbases"

Elitists who not only think they're better than everyone else, but BELIEVE they're better too

Historians who hold on to the past

Media darlings who always get the "good"...whether it be publicity or calls on the field

...and after living in Ann Arbor, I can tell you that it's not true...but I can see where those thoughts/comments/beliefs came from. Especially pre-App St. & Rich Rod. Naturally with the losing streak to Ohio and MSU, some of those arrogant/elitist traits had to simmer down. Also the frustration built and you started to get more knuckleheads that resembled SEC/Ohio Fans. When you're dominating like Michigan did in the Cooper Era, it was easy to hold your nose up and look down on the peons...when they started winning, things changed a bit...but overall, that's your stereotype of Michigan. Not a bunch of toothless people, lol, that's just Ohio fans having fun.

Lastly, I'm not sure blogs are the best place to learn about anything...especially stereotypes and social differences.

I think on a more national scale, we are stereotyped as the arrogant wine and cheese crowd, but from fans around here, mainly MSU fans, we are often stereotyped as the "Walmart Wolverine" crowd. I find the "Walmart Wolverine" stuff to be quite interesting. While I agree it is just plain stupid to critisize MSU's academics as MSU is a good school, I often find it hyprocritical and ignorant for MSU fans to automatically assume that a UM fan that didn't go to UM means he/she didn't go to college or went to a "not good" (if there is such thing) college. There are many good colleges in the state of Michigan besides UM and MSU (just look at the MIAA D3 schools if you want to see examples), which these "Walmart Wolverine bashers" often seem to not comprehend or believe.

I live in SEC country and the fans here are gracious and polite everywhere, except Gainesville, which I consider the ohio of the SEC with angry unemployed baseball cap wearing knuckleheads as fans. Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Athens, Columbia, even Knoxville, you name the SEC town not named Gainesville and it is an awesome place to go experience college football.

Lol, every person has their own opinion, perception, and experiences, so I cannot speak for yours.

However, I attend UF and live in Gainesville. Maybe its because the Gators have been down the last couple years, but I haven't noticed Gainesville being harsh to anyone but FSU (and Tennessee). Alabama came into town last year, and their fans were very classy, and I think we were cordial to them. Despite the beatdown, I couldn't get upset with them (that was also the day of UTL, so my priorities were elsewhere).

IMHO, I see UF as the "Michigan of the SEC". Academically, it's the second-strongest school in the SEC (debatable with Texas A&M, but they're a bunch of cultists and haven't taken their place in the SEC yet). Vanderbilt is like the Northwestern, small and private. Alabama is like the Ohio State, really good athletics but academics, while still respectable, lagging behind. Continue to compare ad nauseum.

+1. I agree that every fan base have some crazies but that doesn't mean that all fan bases are the same as you rightfully point out. Fortunately, in this instance the fan realized the error of his ways and made good. His wallet may tempter his tweets in the future.

Dude was only pointing out that all schools have fans who behave inappropriately at times, which I'm sure we all agree on. He wasn't comparing double bird man with the OSU bounty guy, just throwing out an example that idiots attend games everywhere.

It's good that he redacted the statement so quickly.... but there is little doubt in my mind that it had more to do with the backlash (including a scolding from his attorney) then him actually being sorry for what he said.

Do we have any evidence he's MADE the donation? He says he's going to make it, but until LTT gets a receipt or something for the "donation made in your name", or this guy scans the pdf to his site, I'll give him credit for the apology, but not the donation. As he's shown, talk is cheap. Just because I say I'm going to bang Angelina Jolie tonight doesn't mean I expect you to believe me unless I can produce the sex tape.

Just my opinion...but I think it was. He was always known as the class clown...willing to say whatever to get a laugh. I don't see this as different. And I don't think many people in Columbus cared to begin with because many would've joked about poning up more cash and wouldn't have been apologetic afterwards.

I chalk this up to being as newsworthy as LTT's initial act...a 2 out of 10 on the scale. Sandusky being a 10. Stonum being a 6 or 7.

I gotta say, his apology was a lot more real than any politician's I've ever seen. None of that "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" crap. Seems a lot more genuine than just covering his own ass. I can't speak for everyone but I accept his apology and will happily forget about the incident.

Yes the reaction had something to do with it but in general, this is simply a social feedback cycle that informed him that he was being the village idiot. He made a correction and now life in the village can move on.

when my son was about 3 years old, we were listening to the Beatle's One greatest hits alot in the car. I caught him one day playing with his train set in his bedroom singing: "I've got a Chicken to Ride, I've got a Chicken to ra..ha...ide....." Still makes me laugh whenever I hear I've got a Ticket to Ride....

This is a classy and business-savvy move by the guy (assuming he goes through with it).

This whole story, to me, demonstrates the danger of treating high school recruits as celebrities. People figure that they can get away with a lot with celebrities who seem bigger than life and hardly human. In fact, there's probably some legitimacy to that: they're used to it, most chose that life of celebrity, etc. High school recruits, though, are 15ish-year-olds who happen to be good at sports, want to go to college, and do the occasional dumb thing that most 15-year-olds do. I think that we should treat them like 15-year-olds (in a good way), not like famous actors and musicians.

FB & Slot- Notice these positions are in italics. I realize you can't have 12 players on the field at once. This is my way of recognizing that. (Personally, I believe Shotgun, 3 WR, 2 RB will be our primary set along with the Pro Set formation).

Gunderson above Magnuson agree...a RS year is a favor to any lineman but an early injury could change that.

Wormley or Strobel will play some (IMO) or we will have situational subs - SDE is pretty slight...Rock???

There is some work to be done this fall besides installation and game plan for sure. I'm curious where these guys will come in wrt technique and strength. It's scary to look at your freshmen to contribute so much...but that melody haunts my reverie.

FIrst of all, let me say that this is a good recovery by this guy since the apology also comes with a donation and, in the long-term, it will mitigate damage done to his business image potentially. It seems to me that he is taking the highest road he can take here, and that is good to see at least.

I think that part of the larger lesson here revolves around one of the perils of written communication - not just in social media, but on blogs such as this one, not to mention papers, e-mails and so forth. Especially for someone like this guy who owns a business and communicates business information, this should be basic stuff, but apparently it is not.

There is a definite reason people are constantly advised to think before they hit the "send" button on anything. Multitudes of studies will tell you that - in terms of providing context for things - written communication is the least effective form of communication. You do not experience voice or intonation or physical cues, and even if you claim to be joking (as this guy does - we may never know for sure, of course), your statement stands a very good chance of not reading like a joke (and his did not).

The bounty offeror--Mr Harrison Watson--who heads a business which deals in social media management--now makes a "sincere" apology to convince us that his bounty offer was "insincere." But how can we really know which was insincere: the apology or the bounty offer?'

How can we possibly characterize the bounty offer he put on the head of a 17 year old high schooler? A simple slip of the tongue? I doubt it. The incoherent ramblings of a drunk? His message sounded plenty clear to me. An attempt at "kidding"? That might be plausbile for some, but this guy's business was social media communication.

And how can we believe the sincerity of his apology? He offered it only after people pounded his twitter account. They could even see his name and picture on "linked in" (his name is now hidden and his picture removed).

So, at best, Mr Watson is making an insincere apology for a bounty offer with unclear intent.

At worst, Mr Harrison Watson could be using an even more disgusting tool in the arsenal of social media manipulators.

Mr. Harrison Watson advertises himself as the head of a business (Espire marketing in Columbus), which deals in social media management (Ohio itself pays such companies millions to manage its scandals). Therefore, just as Mr Harrison's business informs him about how to make an issue go away---through an insincere public apology and a measly $2000 "donation"---it also tells him that this apology does not erase the psychological effect of a bounty message he sent out on the internet.

No, I am not saying that his bounty offer was intended to mobilize the army of fools who were actually making death threats vs LTT. However, because Mr Watson is in the social media business, I can only wonder if he might have thought about the possible value of publicity for his business. The fact is: Mr Watson"s indiscretion gained him publicity, and even negative publicity is--as he knows--better than no publicity at all. Indeed, movie stars are told by advertisers, like Mr Watson, to behave outrageously, then apologize. And, how much money would it cost him to get as much publicity for his (perhaps failing) business as he got from his bounty threat.? A lot more than a measly $2000, I bet. Granted, most reasonable people would have nothing to do with Mr Watson's business after this fiasco. But "reasonable" is not a word readily applied to the Ohio FB boosters, who may' be Mr Watson's prospective clients.

I am just speculating. I do not know Mr Harrison Watson. I cannot judge why he offered a "reward" to hurt LTT and then a "reward" to UM to forget the whole thing. However, if I were a UM administrator, I would return the money---publicly. Tell him that we do not take bribes.

The donation is a nice touch. If it would have just been an apology, it might have looked like he was just trying to avoid jail time, and to drive traffic to his site.

Part of his apology doesn't make sense though. "My remarks were meant not to offend, but to highlight another unfortunate situation in the NFL bounty scandal." So he was fully aware of the NFL bounty scandal and how severe it, but yet made jokes in lieu of it. Not saying its not legit, its a huge rivalry and everyone makes mistakes because of that. His donation seems genuine.

Who found out where he worked through twitter. He contacted the company saying that this guy cost them his business when he heard about it. His retraction came shortly after. I thought this was pure awesome. I'm wondering how much more backlash they received as a result.

I don't know if I've seen an off-season with this many people going absolute apesheeeeet with their downtime... I guess it's affecting Ohio as well.

Reading the guy's blog entry, it's clear that he just loves the sport, the game, and the rivalry. He has a respect for both institutions, and I think we can move on. He admitted it was a bad joke and put his money where his mouth is. I think that's a way to man-up to your mistakes.

This rivalry needs more fans who are adult enough to admit when they are wrong. This is a quality that should be respected. I admire that, and I think we should all aspire to such levels of maturity.

Additionally...

I'm just impressed that someone from Ohio who wasn't a football player actually had 2000 bucks.

Namely, his claim that it was meant as a "joke among friends." C'mon man, if that were the case then 1) why did you publish it on the Twitters and 2) why did you write as if addressing Logan personally ("Enjoy purgatory, Logan")? For Logan to read it was clearly the intent. Whether it was originally meant as a bounty is uncertain; some may be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt....

Good for him for apologizing, but this comes off as completely disingenuous.

Also, note how he still hasn't formally stated that the bounty is off. Not sayin', just sayin'.

if your comment was intended to be amongst friends you wouldn't put said comment on a social networking site and use a hash tag that would link it to the entire osu twitterverse. this guy is full of it. he's just reacting to save his arse after making a horrible decision.

I think people are over reacting who cares he's 23 year old who wrote aomethig that no one expected to blow up like this he doesn't even have 2000 to put a bounty on were wasting our time he dropped outta college his pops is a lawyer dude don't